Leicester Lions will face the Rye House Rockets tonight without Lasse Bjerre who has been advised to rest the knee he injured racing against Swindon.

Bjerre was far from fit but rode through the pain barrier in Leicester’s record-breaking win against King’s Lynn seven days ago to score 12 points from his four heats.

Meanwhile, Kyle Newman, who missed the victory against the Norfolk club, is set to return to the team against the Rockets tonight.

Busiest month of fixture calendar

Lions team manager Jim Lynch said: “Our injury worries are set to continue in the short-term during what is our busiest month in the fixture calendar.

“It is good news that Kyle is back but the loss of Lasse is quite a blow as he was producing some of his best form of late, particularly at home where he has amassed 40 points in the last three matches so on that basis alone he will be missed on Saturday.

“So too will Erik Riss who is riding for his Championship club,” added Lynch.

With Bjerre hoping to be fit next week, so too is their high-scoring rider Kim Nilsson who broke an arm last month.

“Kim is on the verge of being ready to resume racing for us but Pawel Przedpelski is a little way off yet.

Poole meeting is target for return

“He was pressed into riding for his Polish club last Sunday as they were short-handed. He is still not able to walk without crutches and is not medically fit to fly but he is targeting our match at Poole later this month as the date when he returns to the team,” added Lynch.

Without four of their riders, the Watling JCB Lions have called upon Rory Schlein and Cameron Heeps to guest for the team. The two Australians, who ride together at Ipswich, will form Leicester’s opening partnership against Rye House and Lynch will operate the rider replacement rule to cover for Bjerre with Michael Palm Toft replacing Pawel Przedpelski.

Meanwhile, Rye House have slipped out of the top-four play-off positions recently but, with matches in hand, a win at Leicester is essential.

The visitors have an experienced team who are led by Chris Harris and Scott Nicholls.

The Hertfordshire club have already won at Leicester this season and since then they have signed Krzysztof Kasprazak.

The former World number 2 will be at reserve and his performance could be a key factor in the final result.